Just got done playing with a demo program of CLIP XE. It seems like it would work well and grow as our company grows. What I love about the program is how you log everything at the end of the day. To log the customers work you just type a Y,N,S for yes, no or skip. It also gives you the option to use a handheld (palm type pda) to track and record jobs automatically and then just sync at the end of the day. Has anyone got any real world experience with this program.

billc

11-05-2008, 06:07 PM

TM,

Call or email me and I'll give you some names of folks to call who use CLIPxe and CLIP2Go.

Bill Crawford
CLIP Software
800-635-8485 x3360
billc@clip.com

syzer

11-05-2008, 06:44 PM

I don't know if it is relevant, I started business in March of 06 and bought Clip. I don't know what version, but I know it was pretty pricey. It just didn't work out for us. I liked the idea of all in one software without tying into quickbooks, but it seemed even the most trivial of tasks were difficult. It didn't seem to flow or function as you would think.

The user interface, at least to myself was horrible, reminded me of windows 3.11.

I started using qxpress, another nice chunk of change, and like it much better. I do not like how it ties into QuickBooks, but does so effortlessly and without event. Its refreshing to have all the financials in quickbooks as it would be hard for any software company to have the financial tracking, abilities, etc as qb does since that is their core business with a huge base of users.

Good Luck!

billc

11-06-2008, 09:25 AM

Hi Chris,

One of the changes with CLIPxe is that there are now icons on the main screen (like QuickBooks). This means you can use the icons to navigate in the program as well as use the traditional drop-down menus.

IN2MOWN

11-06-2008, 09:40 AM

CLIP is a great program but for a heckuva lot less money you can find other things that are close to what CLIP offers.

lawnMaster5000

02-20-2009, 05:40 PM

I just spoke with Bill at Clip and was given a great price for Clip XE.
he said it is only $500 to buy the program.

ONE CATCH. In order to be able to continue to use the program you have to pay a $960 per year maintenance fee. If you have 4 of the Clip-2-go units this will be nearly another $900 per year in maintenance fees.

This amounts to $1,900 PER YEAR in addition to the original $500 to "buy" the program.

Over 5 years this is $9,500 PLUS the original $500 making this cost $10,000 over 5 years. And remember, this assumes you only have 3 crews.

Please let me know you thoughts.

TMlawncare

02-20-2009, 06:19 PM

I just spoke with Bill at Clip and was given a great price for Clip XE.
he said it is only $500 to buy the program.

ONE CATCH. In order to be able to continue to use the program you have to pay a $960 per year maintenance fee. If you have 4 of the Clip-2-go units this will be nearly another $900 per year in maintenance fees.

This amounts to $1,900 PER YEAR in addition to the original $500 to "buy" the program.

Over 5 years this is $9,500 PLUS the original $500 making this cost $10,000 over 5 years. And remember, this assumes you only have 3 crews.

Please let me know you thoughts.

That maintenance fee is exactly why we decided not to go with clip. I do not want to be tied/married to this product basically paying $1000 per year forever. Next year the yearly fee might be $1200, your pretty much stuck.
After weighing the cost I just broke down and bought Qxpress Platinum with the optional mapping program. The cost broke down as follows Quickbooks Pro 2009 - $139, Qxpress Platinum - $1299, Qxpress mapping $500. Altogether it cost nearly $2000. There are no monthly or yearly fees. Clip with mapping would have cost almost $2000 for the first year, and atleast $960 per year forever.

billc

02-20-2009, 07:00 PM

Scott's numbers are accurate. But a few observations:

If you do not need all the CLIP2Go licenses all year-round, you can turn off the unused licenses and not pay for the ones not in use.

Let's say you use an extra CLIP2Go device for which you pay $30/month. What do you get for that investment? First, you get more trustworthy start/stop times from the field than if your crews enter these times manually. This means your job costing is more accurate and you clearly know where you are making and losing money so you can make the most intelligent business decisions.

Second, the times captured are automatically downloaded to your office CLIPxe. Let's say you have an office staff member who would otherwise spend 30 minutes manually entering these times. If you pay that staff person $10/hour, you have saved $5 per day by automating this process. With 20 work days per month, that's a savings of $100/month vs an expenditure of $30.

Over the same five year period referred to by Scott at Marquart, you would invest $10,000 in CLIP and save $8400 in office expenses. That's a difference of $1600, or an cost of only $320 a year or less than a dollar a day. Add to that the value of accurate data for job costing and it's a worthwhile investment.

Like so much in business, we have to compare the cost with the benefit. Looking at the cost alone gives a one-sided view.

FWIW, we have almost 400 companies using CLIPxe and CLIP2Go, some with as many as 40 crews using CLIP2Go.

kyfireman2004

02-21-2009, 08:54 PM

Is there any gps units out there you could just download a route into?
Does tom tom or garmin make something like that?

lawnMaster5000

02-24-2009, 02:44 AM

Bill,

What kind of guarantee does Clip offer as to the future costs of leasing your ClipXE program? Also what happens if for some tragic reason you go out of business?

I can justify a high initial cost, but at this point I have too many concerns about investing my time and data into a program that is leased. I want to be able to make this work, but I don't like the lease program. Please give me a call if you have a few minutes some time this week.